Thermal Engineering

Intermittent Combustion means combustion starts and stops

many times during operation. E.g. All standard SI and CI
engines.
Continuous Combustion means that combustion takes place
continuously. E.g. Turbine engines, Rocket engines, Stirling
engines and Jet engines.
Wankel engine is a internal combustion, intermittent
combustion, rotary engine.

Parts Material
1. Cylinder Block Cast Iron or Aluminum
2. Piston High quality Aluminum
3. Connecting Rod Forged Steel
4. Cylinder Head Cast Iron or Aluminum
5. Crankshaft Forged Steel
6. Camshaft Billet Steel or Chilled Iron Casting

Four Stroke Engines Working: SI engines
Cycle of operation is completed in 4-strokes of the piston or 2
revolutions of the crankshaft.
The volume above piston at TDC is called clearance volume.
Each stroke consists of 180, of crankshaft rotation and hence a
cycle consists of 720of crankshaft rotation.







Compression ratio is the ratio of the volume in the cylinder
above the piston at BDC to the volume in the cylinder above
the piston at TDC.
Higher the compression ratio, the greater is the mixing of air
and fuel.






The spark plug is ignited considerably before TDC to obtain
complete combustion of fuel.
The highest efficiency is obtained when the point of ignition
and the point at which the combustion is complete are
symmetric to TDC.
The exhaust valve is opened before BDC and there is a pressure
drop. The difference in pressure drop between the actual and
ideal cycle is called exhaust blow down loss.
Suction stroke- pressure slightly below atmospheric, Exhaust
stroke- pressure slightly above atmospheric. So negative loop is
formed which represents loss of work.
Four stroke CI (Compression Ignition) engine
It differs from SI engine in the following ways:
The compression ratio of diesel engine is very high (20-25), this
accounts for the self ignition of the engine.




The temperature during combustion stroke is in the range
1000F (538C).
The fuel is injected at a very high pressure about 350bar
compared to petrol engine (70 bar approx).
Due to high internal temperature the amount of Nitrogen oxide
(NOx) produced in a diesel engine is high.
Comparison of SI and CI engines:
SI Engines CI Engines
Intake Air-fuel Air
Compression 8-10 ratio
130 psi
285C
16-25 ratio
400-600psi
538C
Air-Fuel mixing point Carburetor or before
intake valve with fuel
injection
Near top dead centre
by injection
Power 464psi 1200psi
Exhaust 704C - 980C
CO = 3%
NOx = low
370C - 480C
CO = 0.5%
NOx = high
Efficiency 22-28% 32-38%

Valve timing diagram:





The above figure shows valve timing diagram for a low speed and
high speed engine.
The inlet valve opens a few degrees before TDC on the exhaust
stroke. This is to ensure that the valve will be fully open and
fresh charge starts to flow into the cylinder as soon as piston
reaches TDC.
The inlet valve closes 10 after BDC for low speed engine and
60 after BDC for high speed engine.[Reason: The inertia of the
charge to move into cylinder after BDC. For low speed engine
inertia is low and for high speed engine inertia is high due to
which there is a ram effect produced by the incoming mixture
which tends to pack more charge into the cylinder]
FORMULA:
Required angle = (Distance) x (360)
Circumference of the flywheel

Where,




Distance = Distance of the valve opening or closing position
marked on flywheel with respect to their dead centre.
The exhaust valve is opened before the piston reaches BDC,
this is to reduce the work necessary to expel the burned gases
during the exhaust stroke.
The exhaust valve is closed after TDC to ensure complete
removal of gas left in the clearance volume by scavenging, so as
to increase the volumetric efficiency.
There is a period of valve overlap during which both the inlet
and outlet remain opened. If the valve overlap is high then
there is chance of burned gas being sucked into inlet manifold.
Two Stroke Engines
In a 2-stroke engine one cycle of operation is completed in 2
strokes i.e. one revolution of the crank shaft.
Here the valves are replaced by ports.
The various ports in a 2-stroke engine are: a.) Intake or crank
case port, b.)Transfer port, c.)Exhaust port.
For the same weight, the power to weight ratio of two stroke
engine is more as there is a power stroke for each revolution of
the crank shaft.
The induction of fresh charge moves out the products of
combustion through exhaust port. So there is no need of
suction and exhaust stroke.







The fresh charge enters the crankcase when the intake port is
opened. From the crankcase the charge is transferred above
the cylinder by transfer port.
Scavenging is the process in which the fresh charge inducted
into the cylinder is used to push out the exhaust gas.
The deflectors play the function of scavenging as well as
prevent the fresh charge from flowing into exhaust ports.




Ideal and Actual cycle of a 2-stroke engine



Vc clearance volume, Vs stroke volume

Port timing Diagram





Theoretically a 2-stroke engine needs to produce power double
that of 4-stroke engine, but in actual practice the power is
increased by only 30% because of
Reduced effective expansion stroke
Increased heating caused by increased number of power
strokes.
Comparison between 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines:
Four stroke engines Two stroke engines
1. Torque produced is not
uniform so heavier fly-
wheel is used
Torque produced is uniform so
lighter fly-wheel is used
2. Low rate of wear and tear High rate of wear and tear
3. Volumetric efficiency is high
due to more time for
induction
Volumetric efficiency is low due
lesser time for induction
4. Thermal efficiency is higher Thermal efficiency is low





FORMULAE:

Brake power: Power available at the crank shaft

B.P = 2 N R (W-S)
60
Where,

N = Engine speed in rpm
R = Brake drum radius in cm
W = Dead weight added in Kg
S = Spring Balance reading in Kg

Total Fuel consumption:

T.F.C = cc x Specific gravity x 3600 kg / hr
t
f
1000

Where,
t
f =
Time taken to consume 10cc of fuel in seconds
cc = Amount of fuel consumption measured in cc

Specific fuel consumption: It is the ratio of fuel consumption to the
brake power produced.

S.F.C. = T.F.C kg / kW hr
B.P
Note: engines are compared based on SFC

Indicated power: It is power produced inside the cylinder.
I.P = B.P + F.P kW
FP- friction power





Mechanical efficiency: It is the ratio of brake power to the indicated
power

Mech
= B.P x 100 %
I.P
Indicated thermal efficiency: It represents the ratio of indicated
power to the fuel power

INDICATED
= I.P x 3600 x 100 %
T.F.C x C.V

Brake thermal efficiency: It is the ratio of brake power to fuel power.


Brake thermal
= B.P x 3600 x 100 %
T.F.C x C.V
Where,
C.V = Calorific value of fuel in kJ / kg

Brake mean effective pressure: It is a theoretical term used to
indicate how much pressure is applied to the piston from TDC to
BDC.

B.M.E.P = B.P x 60000 N/m
2

L.A.N.k

Where,
L = Stroke length, m
A = Area = (/ 4) D
2

D = Bore dia in m
N = Speed / 2
K = Number of cylinders

Volumetric Efficiency:
It is the ratio of the actual volume of air that goes into the cylinder to
the stroke volume of the cylinder.




Piston speed =

Where,
L = length of stroke,
N = RPM of engine

Relative Efficiency:
It is the ratio of thermal efficiency of the engine to the air standard
cycle efficiency on which it works.
Knocking in SI Engines:
Knocking (also called pinking or pinging) occurs when fuel in the
cylinder is ignited by the firing of the spark plug and smooth burning
proceeds but some of the unburned mixture in the combustion
chamber explodes before the flame front can reach it, combusting
suddenly before the optimum moment of the four-stroke cycle.
Higher octane number greater is resistance to knock
Octane number 100 means iso-octane 100% and heptanes 0%.
Retardation of spark plug ignition reduces knocking.
Knocking in Diesel Engines:
Knocking takes place in CI engines due to sudden ignition and rapid
combustion of initially accumulated fuel in the combustion chamber.
An ignition lag between the time of injection and the actual
combustion is the reason for knocking.
Knocking can be reduced by decreasing the ignition lag.
CI engines are rated based on cetane number.